King Diamond and Mercyful Fate => King Diamond and Mercyful Fate => Topic started by: yamzx1 on December 03, 2014, 04:14:07 pm

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I didn't like it at first: it's always been one of my favorite albums. "Them" has always been a huge inspiration for me in terms of song writing and layering. I've always been of the opinion that the layering was brilliant and masterful. All the different tracks of King, different choirs singing different parts, the EXTREMELY tasteful use of synths all over the record, guitar harmonies, the reverb, the brilliant use of delay, etc.

...But as for the story, I've always thought it was a solid ghost story. Very entertaining and fit the music very well... but today I realize how brilliant it is.

I remember reading somewhere that it was inspired by the concept of addiction. Knowing this, and giving the album a solid listen with that in mind now as an adult who has experienced how difficult addiction is. I've seen it tear down friends, family, and I've even felt the pull of that demon myself. I get it now!!

What really drove it home was, "Mothers Getting Weaker." Basically outlining how much addiction affects those that you love. The chorus, knowing that, is just heart-wrenching. The addict drains those that they are close to to a sickening degree, and the addict does this under the spell of the substance. They become a monster.

The one part "Missy was crying..... as I left them both behind", I had to have rewound about 10 times. Getting shivers each time. Misty-eyed. No joke. King delivers that line with a lot of somber emotion and I never really picked it out before. He realizes and regrets doing what he did.

Anyway. I just had to gush about this album. It was already one of my favorites... but now that I'm old and experienced enough to understand the subtext... it's just fucking brilliant.

Music is a wonderful thing, what one song or album might mean to someone, may not be the same thing it means to someone else. We all get to fill in the cracks, create our own backstory and read into it what we want to. Your interpretation of the Them album is certainly interesting. Them for me has always had a drugged out, hazy, almost psychedelic feeling to it, not psychedelic in the sense of say 13th Floor Elevators psychedelic, but the feeling I'm looking into 10 mirrors at the same time, off balance, what the fuck type of psychedelic.

I also read that the story hints at the drug addiction, it makes pretty much sense. It is also proclaimed to have been inspired by some particular events from King's family. Not that he slit his grandmother's throat, of course :icon_twisted:

I doubt that it has to do with drug addiction....it could be, but that would be too obvious and take a bit a way from the mysticism that is characteristic of most KD lyrics. If you look at the story, Young King "wakes up from the haze" when he leaves Amon. "Their power is less here on the outside". So it has more to with proximity from Amon rather than ingesting a hallucinogen. The blood is more of a sacrifice that brings them forth. I think King has said more than a few times that "THEM" represents the powers of the unknown, I believe he also said the same for Satan. I'm not sure how the ancient god Amun/Amon figures into all of this or if King is using them interchangeably with Satan. Their powers are confined to the house for some reason. It would make an interesting story to have some of the back history brought out for a future concept album. What happened to Grandpa, where did that tea set come from, why is the doctor not allowed in the house? So many things mysteriously left vague. And Afterall, Grandma was not even in Conspiracy despite being a major character and the "Phone Call" track hinting that she would return.

Wow all these cool theories! I always thought it was a family of vampires mixed with shadow creatures from Egypt. Still can say no matter what musically that album had an amazing sound to it and I still love to sing to it in the car on an occasional full moon.. Tea anyone??

The doctor wasn't allowed in the house because King made a pact - he gets to see Missy at midnight and AMON (which was left to King in grandma's will) belongs to "Them". King foresaw in his dream that the doctor intended to steal the house ('he's got the key to my house, the doctor is the devil') by marrying mother / having King killed.

True, but that does not explain why the doctor would be a part of the pact, what would THEY have against him...obviously there is a story there and there is more to the doctor than meets the eye, but the lyrics only make him a nemesis of King, at least on the surface. :bgfrown:

Passing some bloody tea your way guys... :) Only one problem with all this ...at the end grandma ,missy, and grandpa still exist. Metaphorically the doctor is the devil, but his kind of trivial..as kings mom is doing the pulling of the strings. It leaves a ton of conspiracy theories as to what is going on ...hehe :WiNkA: Playing on words ...so what about that? The phone call and the family being alive?

"Only one problem with all this ...at the end grandma ,missy, and grandpa still exist. ... The phone call and the family being alive?"

We can only speculate! :)

On one hand, it seems to be the bloody tea / ritual that summons THEM... the spirits of the dead? The power of the unknown? Yet THEY call King back to the house (title track). Grandma shows up again, saying Grandpa & Missy (deceased) are upstairs. THEY and Missy return in Conspiracy. Taken literally, the dead seem to have some influence outside of the ritual (?). Landau and Mother are alive.

Else, King has succumbed to hereditary madness and is hallucinating! Or, in line with the addiction theory - he is still psychologically addicted to the ritual "high" and forever at risk of relapse.

A very smart theory :) I always got the impression it had to do with addiction or at least obsession, perhaps with the occult? And King (as a boy) being young, naive and impressionable and curious about experimenting and becoming involved with something he was excited by but doesn't truly understand and getting in way over his head and it backfiring. But the drug addiction / rehabilitation angle is really interesting and not something I'd thought of before :D

"Them" is the ultimate masterpiece all around in the amazing career of fate/diamond imo!! Love it!!!! I am also a recovering addict! December 18, 2010 is my sober date!! I must say that I never ever thought of addiction as a personal layer of "them", but to you topic writer, brilliant what you get and feel out of this album!! And congrats on your sobriety also!!! :king: And ya, the emotional delivery on some of the vocals by king are spot on!!! This stuff may just be a horror story to some, but the characters most of us can relate to in some way as far as feelings of nightmarish and confusion go!!

Now i've listened to House of God again today. And i'm sure I found the same topic on that album. I mean "Just a Shadow", "Help" and "This Place Is Terrible" seems to be a lot about drug abuse if read between the lines. But you may have realized that before me :D